The launch of the Odessa College Promise program is just around the corner with the class of 2024.
The scholarship covers the cost of tuition and fees for eligible class of 2024 high school graduates.
Vice President for Student Services Kim McKay said the class of 2023 can still take advantage of First Class Free and OC has done some other things to support them, similar to the way it will support Promise students such as using mentors and providing additional scholarship dollars “so that they understand that college is a reality for them, even though they won’t be part of the official Promise launch in 2024.”
McKay said the incoming freshman class is usually between 1,000 and 1,200 students.
“We estimate just based on the data that 300 of those students will be full Promise (Scholarship) students … and then there’ll be students who receive partial Promise because, if you remember from the conversations early on, it’s a last-in scholarship. Your FAFSA and any other institutional or scholarship awards that you receive pay first, and then (the Promise) scholarship will pay the balance,” McKay said. “That’s designed to make sure that everybody gets an opportunity to attend college for free, but we leverage all of the resources that are available to us and to students and their families.”
For those that don’t have any financial aid or scholarships, the full Promise Scholarship would be in effect. The benefits and the treatment is still the same regardless of the funding that each student receives.
“They’ll be part of something really special,” McKay said.
She noted that Vice President of Advancement, Business and Governmental Relations Jacqui Gore has done a great job of fundraising for the scholarship.
“If you remember when we had the board approve Promise, one of the things that we asked them to consider and they approved and supported, was to allocate 10% of the total surplus of the unrestricted net position of the college after each audit, and after each budget year to go to Promise. So we’re not taking money from any programs or initiatives on campus to fund Promise, we’re actually utilizing surplus similar to something we did for Vision 2030 to support Promise and that started last year,” McKay said.
Normally that would go into the college’s reserves. A healthy community college should have six months’ worth of operating expenses in their reserves.
“That’s the first priority, and then anything above and beyond that we can consider for programs and initiatives. Vision 2030 is one; the Promise program is another. … We’re fortunate that enrollment’s been increasing and more and more students and their families are choosing Odessa College. That gives us some flexibility to get creative and support them in different ways,” McKay said.
Gore said the community members that they have spoken to about the Promise program are very excited about it.
“We all know that the Permian Basin has a low college-going rate, and community leaders see that this would be a way to remove the barriers and help really change the family tree, help students attend college who never thought they could. And it’s an investment in their future employees. We’ve started speaking with donors about supporting this initiative and when we share with them that 100% of our employees have backed the program, that they’re giving what they can to support this initiative, that speaks volumes,” Gore said.
Odessa College employees have contributed to the Promise program for the last two years. In 2022, OC employees contributed just over $42,000 and in 2023 over $76,000. Combined, $115,000 has been earmarked through contributions from Odessa College employees.
“When we sit down with a donor and tell them that 100% of our employees are behind this initiative, then they’re ready to support it, too. So not only is Odessa College earmarking dollars through our budget, but our employees are behind it and our donors are joining us,” Gore said.
The ultimate goal is to raise $60 million for this initiative over the next 10 years.
“If we can create this endowment, then that will live on forever. New graduates in our service area will have that opportunity to attend Odessa College at no charge from now on if we can establish this $60 million endowment,” Gore said.
She added that OC works hard to connect employers with OC students and hire them as they graduate or complete their certificates.
“The more we can get into that funnel, the better it is for our employers. They need us to do more,” Gore said. “That’s the message we hear on a daily basis. How much more can you do and they’re willing to help us to do that. If we can help these students identify what area they want to study at an early age and show them what we have ready for them whenever they graduate, (there aren’t) going to be many reasons for them not to start their classes here at Odessa College.”
From talking to students on campus, Gore said a lot of families don’t know how much college costs.
“So if you say college can be free, if they don’t really know what that total is they still think it’s unattainable because it’s just this mystery number out there. But the more we work with families and the more we work with employers to break down those barriers, I think more and more families in the Permian Basin are seeing that yes, you can attend college at no charge. There are people out here to help you. Odessa College has many opportunities to help students through school. Give us a chance and more and more taking us up on it,” Gore said.
McKay said it’s important for the community to remember that when OC launched First Class Free in 2014, their first promise to the community was to make college affordable. She added that this is an extension of that.
“First Class Free certainly makes college accessible, but there are still families that have difficulty affording college, so our ability to take away that barrier and make funding not a barrier makes college a reality for the students in our community,” she added.
The average cost per year for an Odessa College student is about $6,000 without room and board.
“It covers books in most cases because many of our core curriculum courses are open educational resources, so they’re not having to purchase the $250 textbook. The open education resource fee is added as part of their tuition and fees. It’s a nominal amount. It’s much, much less expensive than a textbook and is current information that’s cultivated and sourced by our own faculty,” McKay said.
As more people learn about OC Promise, McKay said she thinks it will have an impact on enrollment.
There is a deadline of July 15 to apply. Once the board understands what the surplus of the unrestricted budget will be, they will start making some decisions on the funding for scholarships that will be available that year.
“It’s really important that our students do things early. So many of our students plan to procrastinate, and that’s because we’ve let them. But if you want to, as a family and as a first time in college student class of 2024 take advantage of Promise you need to do things early. The admissions application for the fall of 2024 will open in the fall of 2023. I would apply early. The financial aid application which is a requirement to get Promise dollars will open in October of 2023. I would encourage you to apply for that early. Then there will be a Promise application, as well, that students will have to complete so that we can … measure the interest and who’s going to be part of Promise 2024,” McKay said.
Students who receive full financial aid will not need Promise dollars.
“That financial aid is more than enough to cover their tuition and fees for a full-time student for the year, which we are so fortunate that our tuition is really affordable. But for those students who get partial aid, or for those students who may not receive any aid at all, they will access Promise dollars,” McKay said.
Meanwhile, the college will continue its longstanding tradition of the employee giving campaign.
“For many years, that supported our Student Success Scholarship. We still have the Student Success Scholarship and we have community members who make contributions to that. Many of our students qualify for that particular scholarship. But starting in ‘22, for our employee giving campaign, we changed the focus to the Promise program and so yes, we’ll do that going forward,” Gore said.
She added that the employees are thrilled about the impact they’ve been able to make.
“I share that with our employees how intrigued donors are by the fact that they’re supporting it. It’s such a large amount and in large numbers. That will definitely continue. We’re very fortunate and blessed that our board of trustees sees that this is important and has voted to approve the allotment of these dollars for the scholarship because what that will allow us to do from a fundraising perspective is Odessa College leadership has supported funding the scholarship over the next 10 years so that we can establish this endowment because if we raise money each year in an award, it will never build that nest egg that will last a lifetime,” Gore said.
“Our Board of Trustees and our administration get that and support that concept knowing that students will be awarded way beyond our time here at Odessa College are on this earth. Generations to come will have that opportunity and to have leadership here at Odessa College who sees that and supports it is really valuable for the Permian Basin,” Gore added.
“We’re thinking about students who will attend here 50 years from now. How can we support them, how can we make education vital for this region from now on. That’s exciting to me just as we think about how this fundraising effort is going to impact all of us and to sustain this region,” Gore said.
